Car-wheel.



'J. M. HANSEN.

CAR WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 4, 191o.

LQQ'flQ/if, Q r Patented Nov. 7, 1911.

JOHN M.'HANSEN, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 7,1911.

Application filed June 4, 1910. Serial No. 565,026.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Joan M. HANSEN, a resident of Pittsburgh, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have cars and other likecars carrying light loads such as in electric service.

As a matter of safety in carrying loads, and ease of running and forlike reasons, 1t has become very desirable to employ forged steel wheelsbecause of the greaterstrength of the wheel flanges to resist shocks andjars and the longer life of the wheels.

A very important requirement for such forged steel Wheels is lightnessin weight, as any material reduction in weight produces a like economyincost of running, it being calculated in the present service on electricroads that each hundred pounds saving in weight effects a saving of fromfive to ten dollars per year.

While it has been recognized that the necessary hub, rim and fiangeforwheels used in electric and like car service could be ob-- tamed in alight weight forged steel. wheel,

great difficulty has been experienced in providing therewith a lightweight web; even if it can be forged toprovide a light weight web ofsuflicient stiffness. One main reason for this. is found in thedifficulty of forging a thin web correspondin to the usual proportionsof the wheel 1 ody, because the metal of the web portion being thinnerthan the hub and rim is subjected to-muchheavier forging action andcools much more rapidly in the forging operation and becomes too stifl'for forging if made much thinner than that required in the heavierstandard wheel for steam railroad service. Another difliculty is that ifthe web is thinned in like proportion to the rest of the wheel body ascompared to the regular section of such I standard, the webstrength ofthe Wheel and its stiffness are so impaired as to be brought below thesafety limit of wheels of this type.

The object of the present invention is to provide an integral forgedsteel car wheel of relatively light-weight mid-section and yet one withsutlicient stiffness in its midsection to sustain the desired load.

It consists,,generally stated, in an integral forged steel car wheelhaving hub and rim, sections connected by a series of spokes, saidspokes being of the same thickness at equal distances from the wheelaxis and having shear-finished edge walls parallel to the Wheel axis; itbeing found practicable to produce such wheel by forging the wheel withthe ordinary thickness of web section employed in standard wheels andthen so shearing out. the middle of the web section as to form thespokes. It also consists in such a wheel dished to bring the hub and rimout of line with each other and connected by a series of spokes formedof the same thickness at equal distances from the wheel axis and havingshear-finished edge walls parallel to the wheel axis. It also consistsin such a wheel having hub and rim portions tapering toward the web andhaving continuous web portions close to the hub and rim and intermediatespoke sections of the same thickness at equal distances from the Wheelaxis and having said web sheared out to'form spokes connecting such webportions and of increasing the width where the v spokes are joined tosuch web portions.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 1s a plan View of a Wheel embodyingthe inventlon; Fig. 2 1s a vertical section on the line 2-2 Fig. 1; andFig. 3 is across section on line 3-3 Fig. 1.

The car Wheel embodying the invention is an integral forged steel wheelhaving the hub 1 and the rim; 2,'and is forged from a suitable blank bysuitable forging mecha nism such as by dies or dies and rolls. The rim 2is formed with the tread face i and the flange 5 andsaid flange is madeof full thickness so as to provide in the integral forged wheel .asufficient thickness of flange to Withstand all strains brought upon it.In the preferred form of said wheel. the hub tapers down as illustratedat G to join onto the web 7 and the inner face of the rim tapers down asillustrated at 8 to join onto sald web as at 9, the metal being joinedat such points on the regular curve as usually employed in the standardwheel. In the preferred form the web portions 7 and 9 are continuousclose to the hub and web, extending outwardly from the hub and inwardlyfrom the rim a short distance, while said web is sheared out to form aseries of openings 10, so forming the spoke portions 11,

said spoke portions being connected to the web portions 7 near the huband to the web portion 9 near the rim on curved lines so forming thespokes wider at each endthan in dthe mid-portion, as illustrated at 12an 13. i

In the ordinary forging of the wheel the web is made of the samethickness at equal the hub and rim are reduced in weight, the 15' A,web, the web being of sufficient thickness to provide for easy forginthereof, it being distances from the wheel axis 14, the wheel beingforgedas with even thickness of web walls along circumferential'linesand being slightly tapering as shown. "The .Web is,

. however, made of full thickness of wall;

that is, though inthe forging of the wheel rim has fullthickness'offlange so as to sustain. all the flange or lateral strainsbrou ht on; the wheel, and it has'a relatively thlck preferred forexample t at a web shall'be made'of a; thickness not less than threefourths of an inch near the rim of the wheel. In the shearing of thewheel as so forged a large body of the metal'is sheared out on lines.parallel with the wheel ax1s,'leavin I The edge 'walls or faces 16, 17and .18 show the lines or shearing or punching. The

'- wheel asthus constructed provides the full thickness qf wheel flangeto sustain all necessary strain and also the full thickness of spokes togive the full strength and stiff ness; to sustain all the loads broughtupon the wlieel, while the web portion :of the wheel can be reduced'toapproximately 11; the

weight of a continuous or solid web of the same thickness. For example,where the continuous web would have .'a weight of about 130 to 140pounds, the sheared out spoke-web would have a weight ofapproximate1y-65 to 70 pounds, a very materlal-re- "'duction beingobtained in the weight of the entire .wheel such as in an;ordinaryswivel truck car, which makes a reduction of over 500 pounds percar. Notwithstanding such reduction, in weight the wheel has fullstrength and stiffness to carry the load because of the thickness of theweb and the spokes formed therefrom, and such strength is increasedbecause of the continuous web portions 7 and 9 closet-o the hub and rimrespectively and also because of the in creased width of the spokeswhere they connect onto such webs, the web portion close to the hubreceiving the load therefrom which is equally distributed through thespokes to the web portion close to the rim enabling the rim to sustainthe entire loa and providing sufiicient stiffness in the midportion ofthe wheel proper although it is dished to sustain the full load carriedby this type of wheel. I am also enabled to easily forge a wheel of suchsection because the necessity of thinnin the web portion to reduce theweight of t e wheel is entirely overcome.

The wheel can be cheaply and rapidly formed by forging the wheel withcontinuous dished web and then simultaneously shearing throu h the webon lines arallel to the wheel axis, while still at a su ciently highheat to provide for the easy shearing through of the thick web toproduce the thick spoke-web portions as above described. And I soproduce a wheel of such reduced weight as to cause a large saving intraction cost, or the cost of hauling the cars.

What I claim is 1. As a new article of manufacture, an integral wroughtst'eel car wheel, having hub and rim portions tapering toward themid-portion and spokes of less thickness than the hub and rim but of thesame thickand provided with shear-finished edge walls.

2.- As a new article of manufacture, an integral wrought steel car wheelhaving hub and rim portions dished with relation to each other, andspokes of less thickness than the hub and-rim and of the same thicknessat equal distances from the wheel axis and provided with shear-finishededge walls parallel to the axis of the wheel. I

3.; As a new article of manufacture, an integral wrought steel car wheelhaving hub and rim portions and narrow continuous web portions joiningthe same and spoke portions connecting such web portions, such ness atequal distances from the wheel axis,

